Double barrel shotgun (Doom 3)



The Vulcan 1270 double-barreled shotgun, also known as the super shotgun, is a weapon introduced to Doom 3 by the Resurrection of Evil expansion pack. It is first found in Erebus - Level 3 in Sarge's office. In The Lost Mission, it is found in Enpro Sector 2. The weapon is found in each campaign only once. "The Vulkan 1270 Double Barrel Shotgun fires two 12-guage rounds simultaneously and can take down even the largest of game."

- PDA description (sic)

Combat analysis
The super shotgun has nearly equivalent strengths and weaknesses as its classic Doom namesake and its 2016 equivalent, since it is a sort of remake of that weapon. It has the same tactical value. Extremely powerful, firing both barrels at once, the double-barreled shotgun will instantly kill most monsters at close range and severely wound more powerful monsters, but loses effectiveness at long range. Reloads rather quickly but its low ammo capacity and single shot can prove slow in a crowd of monsters.

The differences between the super shotgun and the regular one are mainly that the super shotgun (as its nickname implies) is more effective and can cause more damage. Another significant difference is that it only holds two shells at one time (enough for one shot from the weapon). As its name implies, it uses the same kind of ammunition as the shotgun, shotgun shells. Additionally, it is far more accurate than the regular shotgun.

Tactical analysis
The super shotgun has relatively short range, but a good hit with most of the pellets connecting can deal formidable damage, being potentially more powerful than a direct hit from the rocket launcher. It can kill any enemy up to a revenant in one shot, provided that most of the pellets connect. It is particularly effective against enemies that are teleporting in, as they will be defenseless for a moment as they appear, and the tell-tale teleporting animation allows getting into the necessary short range safely. If aiming for the head, the super shotgun can kill powerful foes such as Hell knights within three shots, and an arch-vile can be killed with one headshot. When going against multiple foes or a powerful foe, use the Artifact so that there is enough time to successfully evade attacks and get close to a target without getting hit.

If the player switches to a different weapon immediately after firing the super shotgun, the weapon will switch before the super shotgun is reloaded. It could therefore be a valid tactic to fire a single blast from the super shotgun before continuing the fight with another weapon, avoiding the slow reload time. However, if using this tactic, then the super shotgun will need to be reloaded the next time the player selects it.

Once the player has both shotguns, the "3" key is bound to selecting the shotgun and the double barrel shotgun. In the original game, the double barrel shotgun is selected with one press of the "3" key, and the regular shotgun with two presses. In the BFG Edition, however, pressing the "3" key will select whichever of the two shotguns was equipped last, the default being the regular shotgun and being reset to the regular shotgun at the beginning of each new level. Therefore, if the player prefers the double barrel shotgun over the regular shotgun, it is wise to take a moment to switch to the double barrel shotgun at the start of each new level then switch to whatever other gun is desired - in this way, the next time the player presses "3", the double barrel shotgun will be selected rather than the regular shotgun.